Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a cleaning device for cylinders of a printing press and, more particularly, for cylinders, respectively, formed with at least one cylinder gap open at the cylinder circumference and extending in the direction of the cylinder axis, the cleaning device including a beam-type cleaning tool extending over the length of the cylinder gap and disposed so as to be movable transversely to the cylinder axis.
Washing devices for the cylinder jackets of the cylinders of a printing press have become known heretofore. Such washing devices, as disclosed in the published German Patent Document DE 79 33 305 U1, use a cleaning tool which, having been saturated or soaked with cleaning liquid, is pressed transversely to the cylinder axis against the circumference of the cylinder and, after termination of the cleaning operation, is withdrawn. In this regard, the cleaning tool is mounted eccentrically and is formed with a hexagonal cross section. At the end of the cylindrical jacket surface, the cleaning tool is moved into the cylinder gap a slight distance and is thereby stepped up to the next side surface. The latter thereafter again reaches or comes into contact with the rubber-blanket jacket surface.
In the process of washing a cylinder, especially a blanket cylinder of a sheet-fed offset printing press, washing liquid unavoidably gets into the cylinder gap quite frequently and, in fact, to an increased extent when washing media based upon a vegetable origin is used. The washing medium is wiped in the region of the gap bordering on the cylinder jacket, and adheres thereat to the wall defining the gap. When pressure contact is made again, the soiled or dirty washing liquid which has gotten into the gap sprays or spatters onto the printed stock due to the then higher rotary speed of the cylinder, so that the printed material is unusable initially, until the cylinder gap has been cleaned of adhering washing-medium residue by centrifugal force.